The Bridge 4  : Loose Talk
by Gojirob
Summary: Seeking to master her fear of her own personal dark art, Katara ends up getting Sokka hurt. A new Sokka emerges, and this one thinks a bit differently.
1. Chapter 1

Loose Talk

by Rob Morris

_**THE FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF ZUKO RLF, FIVE YEARS BEFORE START OF HIS REIGN AS BRIDGE LORD, OR PAX AANG**_

Iroh concluded his eerie tale.

"...as the sunlight rose and the last undead thing retreated back to its tomb, the time-lost warrior had once again bested his ancient foe. The graveyard was now no longer an infinite dungeon of evil, but merely a stop on his path back to the past, where fate awaited them both."

The young people-and some not so young-all applauded the splendid story. The Fire Lord smiled at his uncle.

"I always loved your 'Warrior Ramallihp' stories, Uncle. That one was a real old favorite. I think it even scared Azula, though she'd never admit it. I just remember her staying up all night after you told that one. Do you have one where he finally gets home?"

Katara, who normally felt she had seen enough scares in her time, nodded as well to this question.

"Yes, Uncle Iroh-these are all great, but even the good ones we've heard before."

Iroh saw assent all around.

"Well-Jabram, the young man who sweeps up for me, says he's good at making lantern shadow shows, and would love to try and conclude my old effort-perhaps next year sometime, we will start."

Sokka was still almost drooling over the scary dialogue.

"I-Will-Devour-Your- SOOOOOUUULLLL!"

Katara saw the full moon outside, and then saw a nod from Zuko.

"Everyone-Aang, Sokka, Toph and Zuko know about this-but I've never told Suki, Mai or Ty Lee. I have a power you should all know about-or I think you should. It's just not something I'm proud of. Zuko convinced me that all our allies should be aware of it."

Mai cut in.

"...or maybe it should be kept in secret reserve? The fewer who know a secret, and all that?"

Iroh nodded.

"We appreciate the trust inherent in this, Katara. But Mai has an extremely valid point."

Ty Lee shook her head.

"I disagree. Apart from everything else about Azula, I hated when she would unleash some ability or technique she'd never discussed with us, then yell and pout when it threw off our rhythm. If Katara finally trusts us enough to tell about this-whatever it is-then I wanna know what she can really do."

Mai did something rare.

"Okay. That pressed a lever in me. Yeah-that bugged me too. But whenever this sort of thing comes up again-I say we keep it inside the group. The less any potential enemy knows, the better."

Sokka, who had been parroting choice pieces of dialogue from the 'Warrior Ramallihp' story, looked at his sister with more than a little seriousness.

"Hey-it's one thing to speak up-but does this really need a demonstration?"

"It kind of does, Sokka. I need to show everyone why I don't like doing this."

He rolled his eyes, just a bit.

"Then I'm volunteering as your practice dummy-unless you decide to seize upon that opening I just gave you."

She cupped his cheek.

"You're no dummy. It's because you're not that you exasperate me so much."

"Hey-what else is a brother for?"

Bypassing this opening as well, Katara made her challenge.

"Ty Lee-take my brother down."

Ty Lee stood stunned for a moment. Mai seemed to catch a look of realization, and whispered to her friend.

"OHHH-fight him! I kinda thought that wasn't a thing a sister asked for her brother-at least in most families I've known."

Katara correctly guessed that it was Ty Lee's crush on Sokka that drove this misunderstanding, and not some lack of brains. Katara had learned repeatedly that what she had said of Sokka was at least as true of Ty Lee.

_*But I'll bet I still surprise her.* _

Sokka did an okay job blocking Ty Lee's attempts to chi-stun him, but all present knew that she was not yet anywhere near her stride, and a solid strike was inevitable. Katara reached out to her brother's body with her power, and where his blood flowed, she now had control when she wanted it.

"Got you!"

But to Ty Lee's shock, the instant closure of Sokka's eyes was not the end of his fight.

"No-way! I struck the right spot. Even if he deadened the nerves there, he should still be out like a lamp."

Sokka's arms moved to block her, and though five or six separate strikes on her part seemed set to stop him, the unconscious Sokka just kept on moving against her. Ty Lee finally spotted Katara's arms and legs moving in the same motion, and caught on. Her face grew badly upset.

"Enough! I-I thought he was tricking me, or overcoming my chi-blocks! How could you do that to your own brother? You call me a freak, but you can bend the water in someone's blood?"

Suki at first had wondered why she hadn't been told about this ability. As her own blood grew a bit cold, she now understood. Mai also seemed thrown off by the implications.

"Hey, he agreed to help me in this. Besides, once you've knocked him out, what does a chi-block matter anymore?"

Iroh grabbed up the fallen Sokka.

"It is not as simple as all that, Katara. Ty Lee, will you aid me in reviving him?"

Aang held Katara close as she wept, hoping against the very worst things that now crossed her mind.

After a time, Mai emerged from an argument with Zuko and sought out Katara.

"Okay. He kind of pushed you into this, right?"

"Sort-of. He knew that this ability scared me, and said that I should just regard it as the equivalent of lightning bending or metal bending for their respective arts. But Mai, I just can't see it that way. Are you two all right? I'd hate for you to fight because of me."

Mai cracked a barely-visible smile.

"It's okay. You may have heard the argument-the making-up we closed the doors for. Katara-do you know why my blades can pin clothing to surfaces and yet not even scratch the flesh?"

"I-never really thought about it."

"Neither have I. I was taught the technique I use, and part of my practice was pushing out all thoughts of anything else. Zuko is like you-he holds onto hope, and he wants to make this dark art into just another extension of bending. I'm like Sokka-I know that some things are just weapons meant to harm. What was your teacher in this blood-bending like?"

Katara sighed.

"Teacher-is not so great a term in this case."

So Katara told of their encounter with a woman too long gone from her tribe and its high moral fiber. For Mai, the tale easily eclipsed Iroh's for creepiness, but she figured as she often had that she herself was creepier than most anything else.

"My advice? Put this ability away on a shelf marked 'Azula'. What my boyfriend forgets is that metal bending by its existence ends all possibility of holding a corrupt Earth bender. He forgets that only one lightning user of his acquaintance is not a monster. The Air Nomads may have unleashed their equivalent power when attacked, but they are still gone. These so-called upgrades are gimmicks in my opinion. You've stopped me, Ty Lee and Azula on separate occasions. Any blood-bending involved there?"

Katara nodded, taken aback by the blood-simple logic.

"You-are good."

Mai raised a finger in the air.

"I bow to no one in my ability to swiftly bring someone crashing down to Earth. Your brother might rival me, but he's too nice to really bring it home."

Katara smiled.

"Just why are we all getting along so well?"

"Easy. We ditched and defeated the two ruling monsters in this nation and hooked up with the two champions. But just because we all turned to Zuko, we shouldn't mistake that for his being perfect. I'll have to show you his pathetic attempt at a goodbye letter someday."

"Only two people see me as perfect. Aang-and my brother."

Mai shrugged.

"I'd include the new Fire Lord in that one. Remember, it was you who broke Azula when he failed to take her nature into account."

"Yeah-but if I hadn't stuck so close by, he could have battled her freely."

"It was still Azula. She'd have found another way to cheat."

Mai went off at this point, not mentioning she wished to check on her comrade-in-cynicism as well. A boy she had known for barely a year and yet now made serious plans with walked up and tried to cheer her.

"I'll bet-I'll bet he'll be up and around and pigging out on all kinds of meat any second now."

She smiled at his effort. Romance aside, it was still sometimes easier for her to think of Aang as another brother. Whoever they ultimately chose to spend their lives with, it was impossible to imagine that they wouldn't always be exactly that close.

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I tried to cook a meal?"

"Sokka did. He said it was a little overdone, but that you tried your best."

Katara sighed.

"I spilled blubber oil all over the hut, and it caught fire. We were weeks cleaning up, and Sokka only joked about it when I looked like I needed a laugh. Gran-Gran told me later that the fire burned up all the toys Mom had carved for him-that he never brought up. Oh, Aang! What I would give to hear him moan about my lousy laundering skills!"

"Sorry, little sister-nowadays I have enough to get my stuff stone-pressed!"

Sokka emerged looking a bit unsteady, but very much alive, with both Suki and Ty Lee supporting him. The newest Kyoshi Warrior looked at his sister.

"Look, what I said about creepy-"

"I deserved that and worse-ooooh! That I ever thought that horrible ability could be used for anything good!"

Ty Lee didn't correct her, but did add on.

"Eh-I think part of it was my being creeped out by someone being able to shut me down the way I usually do others. It kind of reminds me of stories about the Chi-Less Ones. ooooh-try NOT to have a boatload of older sisters who like to scare you."

Suki seated Sokka, who his sister hugged like mad.

"Sokka-you still feel unsteady."

"Actually, Katara-I've never felt better. Even as I shook off my-ahem-enforced slumber-I started thinking thoughts I've never even formed the basis of before today. I really feel I might be on to something-some THINGS bigger than any we've ever known. I'll make you proud, Sis!"

"You've always done that. Me-I'm not so proud of. I will never use that ability again, except in the direst emergency."

Aang looked a bit put off, but spoke anyway.

"I hope you make an exception for me, Katara. Because I want you to teach me blood-bending."

Katara turned and looked at her more-than-friend and glared, but he stood firm.

"I am the Avatar. It's just possible I have more work before me than any other Avatar in known history. Zuko has set a pace for rebuilding I've pledged to keep up with. Toph can teach me Metal-Bending when she gets back from Omashu-though I'm really not looking forward to that. Uncle Iroh has pledged to teach both me and Zuko Lightning when we're ready in his eyes. I'm almost certain the Air Nomads had some similar secret method- I remember Gyatso and the others whispering about Forbidden Arts. There are only two people who can teach me Blood-Bending, Katara-and one of them is nuts."

Katara was ready to boil over.

"WHY would you want to know about a lot of those things? Your own mentors called them Forbidden Arts. Lightning nearly killed you and Zuko! Metal-Bending? Maybe. But you saw what I could have done-what Hama did do-how can you even ask this of me?"

The Avatar faced this foe down, though it obviously tore at him to do so.

"It's going to be a desperate world for a while. Instead of one big-huge Ozai, we face potentially hundreds of little ones. I have to have an edge in each art. An edge almost unique to me. I have to have the ability to end most fights before they even start."

Sokka walked over and simply took Aang's staff without warning, and then stared at it.

"Sokka!"

"You know, Aang-you're pretty sharp with this thing, even without using air-bending."

Sokka swung the staff about a bit, surprising everyone when he completed a spin-kick without falling while using it.

"Thing is, there are lots of ways an enemy or situation could arise and take away your advantage on the bending fronts. Suppose we got a staff for me, and I give you some of what Master Piandao showed me? Then, you get Zuko on other swordplay, and maybe some Archers too. Yeah, you are powerful. You may even be power itself. But knowing this stuff can only enhance your bending, and give you a fallback for when you're plain out of Avatar juice."

Sokka handed the staff back, and Aang lit up.

"Great idea, Sokka! Avatar Roku not only learned bending in his travels, but the arts and sciences and martial arts as well. If I know how to take somebody down fast, then that makes it much less likely I'll ever have to really hurt them."

"Annnd-you won't have to learn blood-bending."

"Katara-"

"Aang, besides the art being morally repugnant, it's not exactly reliable. I mean, you can only use it a few nights of the month-presuming good weather."

Sokka seemed to have something to say on this subject as well.

"Stuff of nonsense, Katara-you can blood bend any time you feel like it. So could Hama."

Sokka was now steadier than before, but something still seemed off.

"What are you saying?"

"Look-when Hama figured out what she could do, she was weak as a kitten, and certainly not as well-trained and talented as you. So she needed the full moon to focus. Now, even though when we met her, she was all _'cackle-cackle-cackle'_ loopy, she must have still felt some remorse at what she was doing and how she was doing it, or else she would have just dumped us all in that spacious dungeon of hers. So she tells herself that she can only do it during the full moon. Simple combination of mistaken initial assumptions and residual disgust at how low she had to sink."

Ty Lee looked at Suki, seeing that her Commander was thrown off by her man. She spoke up for no other reason than to guide the conversation away from this tender subject.

"Wow! Any advice for me, Sokka?"

Sokka knew nothing of Chi networks, so a more typical Sokka-idea was expected. This was not to be.

"Funny you should ask, Ty Lee-cause you have the power to make a man's head explode."

Suki rolled her eyes.

"Thanks a lot, Sokka."

"Ohhhh-you know I respect your innate power to lop off his head and eviscerate him-but this is different, Suki."

Sokka hit three spots on his own body in succession, and Ty Lee nearly gasped.

"How did you know about those?"

"Simple! Convergence of nerve and muscle and joint groups. Anyway, Ty Lee hits those three, and then waits about two seconds while those energies travel along the chakra path along the spine, and if she has the timing, traps the displaced Chi by striking the vertebrae just above and below their path. Fifteen seconds later-BOOM! Women are built tougher, though, so doing that would probably just melt their internal organs."

Ty Lee now needed Suki to seat her as she shook from the implications of Sokka's words. Katara was disgusted.

"Sokka, how can you say such a thing? That's even worse than blood-bending!"

"Well-sis-who says you even have to blood bend? A bender of your power? My sister is so great, I'll bet she can dehydrate someone instantly. All that would be left is a few pounds of chemicals inside some clothes and boots. Heh! Imagine boarding a ship and finding the crew like that?"

"And suppose I don't want to murder people?"

Sokka seemed truly clueless for the first time in his life. This wasn't a lack of realization, they began to realize. It was perhaps an inability to realize just what he was saying.

"Oh. Then all you do is just use the water inside them to pull them towards you, or send them away. Pull them over to punch them, trip them, or mess with their steeds. Push them back or freeze them from the inside out. It's water, Little Sister-we all got it in us! Speaking of which-"

Sokka ran off, and the silence as he found a place to relieve himself stood well past his return.

"Ho-Kay! That was a relief. Oh-Aang? You want me to come up with something on that Forbidden Arts front, as regards air-bending? For some reason, I really feel like I could."

Aang knew Katara would want his hide, but it was hidden knowledge that proved the difference in his great victory over Ozai. He could not afford to pass such knowledge up, even if he rarely or never used it.

"I'd appreciate that, Sokka. But let's keep all that between you and me, alright?"

"You got it, Ava-buddy! Hey! Is it mid-afternoon already? Mai and I always meet about now, to gripe for no good reason. Toodles!"

Sokka had proven his ability to flabbergast a room full of people on many occasions. But even with that, this was still a first. An unwanted first. Suki spoke to her subordinate.

"Ty Lee? No one's blaming you for this. But can you think of any reason why those chi-blocks could have caused this to happen?"

Katara gave a reassuring look to the shaken warrior, acknowledgement that, if there was blame to be had, she held at least as great a portion.

"Well-people have been known to become more talkative once multiple blocks are released. But Sokka-"

Suki chuckled despite herself.

"It is hard to imagine him becoming even more talkative."

Katara wanted to laugh, but found she could not.

"But he has, don't you get it? Not in how much he says-but in what he says. Sokka's always had a marvelous brain-and part of me has wondered why he doesn't really harness it. I think on top of all the other lessons I picked up this week is the answer to that question. Ty Lee, when might he return to normal?"

"It-it could be as much as a week."

"Great-just great. Suki-any chance you two can take him along when you scout out The Ruin?"

Suki shook her head.

"He's not the problem. The problem is the other girls. Warriors are really hormonal, and a pretty face of either kind tends to distract from mission work."

Katara accepted this. The Ruin, the area that Ozai's ships had managed to scour before they were halted, had become a gathering place for pirates, former Fire Nation soldiers who refused to stand down, and bullying soldiers from other nations, like the ones once faced down by Zuko in the Earth Kingdom. While never pledging to serve the Fire Lord or Nation, the Kyoshi had given a far more personal oath to aid Aang and Zuko in rebuilding.

"No. You need stealth, and stealth is not Sokka-I think. We'll just need to ride herd on him, and hope he doesn't break anything-like the laws of common creation."

On the first day, Sokka finally managed to creep out Mai when he demonstrated that her blades worked partially by way of activating a body's static electricity, built up in simple motion.

"See? A simple rearranging of strike patterns will be like bending lightning they carry around with them!"

Mai nodded.

"It'll be like having a little bit of Azula around at all times. Thanks loads, Sokka."

The second day, Aang gained a pretty good idea of what his mentors of old whispered in private. He became thankful the temple guards had been so very good at keeping novices out of such meetings.

"From up here on good old Appa, we can see the sky meet the ocean. Now, while in prison, The Mechanist met up with some scientists from all four nations, and together they confirmed two long-held theories. The first one is, that water and air contain a common element. The second element in water hydrates it, or makes it liquid. The second element in air nitronizes it, or makes it all gassy. As the Avatar, you have power over both elements, which means you could in theory seize upon their common nature and separate it from either or both."

Aang was not an idiot, but nor was he a scientist.

"What-does all that mean, Sokka?"

"Easy-cheesy, my friend! You can remove the essential element from either, given enough practice. Minus the element that makes metal rust in either, the remaining element will become acidic enough to eat through mountains. Done in the air, you can take down, well-ummm- a mountain. Done in the water-you could skeletonize a serpent as large as the one we faced on the way to Ba Sing Se."

In Aang's nightmares that followed, the poor stupid beast writhed in the water, surfacing in agony before sinking beneath the waves, with eventually even its bones dissolving.

On the third day, someone who actually welcomed the distraction he provided was awed by the prowess of a man he once dismissed entirely, when they were enemies.

"I-I froze it."

Zuko sat before his now literally iced tea-not to mention tea cup.

Sokka nodded sloppily.

"Heat induction, Lordly Lord! You can pull it out of something too. You always could, but Fire Nation folk are big on pumping fire out, not pulling it in. Also-let's be frank, subtlety is not the way of your people."

Zuko pointed to his scar.

"Umm-Duh!"

"Yeah, that is a major Duh. But here's a not-so-Duh for you. You know those reading headaches you get? Imbalance in the eyes. Just cool down the overworked eye a little, and you'll be able to tear through those scrolls like nobody's business-except yours-since it is your business."

Zuko seemed to be excited by this prospect.

"Geez-you like paperwork that much?"

"Sokka-couldn't I also use this technique to calm myself, physically and emotionally?"

"Keep calm cool and collected? Sure, why not? That's my new motto-Why Not? Man, why have I never thought of this stuff before?"

Zuko now contemplated combining his recent maturity and peace of mind with this technique to finally persuade Iroh to give him lessons in lightning bending-provided he could find a half hour to even begin such lessons.

"You're certainly impressing me, Sokka. Don't forget, tomorrow you inspect the ammo dump. We don't need anyone grabbing some of the stuff that's there."

"What if-I told you I could get rid of everything in that dump in one fell swoop?"

Zuko nodded.

"Like the ancient gamesman said : Name That Melody. What do you propose?"

"Just exactly that. I'll keep it safe-but I have to see if this can be done."

Zuko signed the appropriate order.

"Keep this up, and you may be called the greatest genius since-"

Sokka answered.

"Since Zakouta?"

Zuko watched him leave, and only then did he release a shudder, call for a Hawk, and send a message to his Uncle and mentor.

"Zakouta. Why'd it have to be Zakouta?"

On the fourth day, Commander Sokka of The Fire Nation went after the ammo dump in such a way as to render its temptation null and void. Commander Jee, a survivor of the North Pole Campaign and a man Zuko wanted in a position of power out of respect, did not dispute but found the outsider's orders puzzling.

"Commander Sokka, if we're going to attempt to bombard the ammo dump out of existence, I suggest that we need more combustible material to go along with the base fuel we're using."

"Jee-trust this former ice dweller. The concentrate I made from the base fuel you were using is going to do the job for us. Ensign Turo-you ready?"

The female archer seemed to relish the challenge ahead of her.

"Willing and able, Commanders-I just wish you'd let me light the bolt."

She set her crossbow while Sokka shook his head and held up the fist-sized projectile.

"You split this baby just so, lady officer-and you will see why we're not lighting it-on this end."

Sokka placed the pellet in the weight-adjusted catapult.

"Jee-did the Dai Li build the earthen containment for the dump?"

"I wasn't here then, Sokka-but I believe they did. None left now, though. Those traitors have all fled to the Ruins with the other trash."

It took Sokka a moment to realize that people who would betray their own people weren't necessarily well-loved anywhere, even by those who had in theory benefited from their actions. The Kyoshi were a different story, offering aid so long as it met certain standards and helped with the general rebuilding. But the Dai Li agents had followed a girl well-liked for her prowess and skill and disliked for practically everything else you could name, and as her star fell, theirs sank outright.

Sokka nodded, as did Jee, and the catapult was fired. At the precise angle and time Sokka had told her, Turo fired her cross-bolt straight into the ball.

The report was heard across the Four Nations, with echoes in every corner of creation. The light turned the late afternoon sun into the Noon-Day sun. People watching from a distance thought the ancient volcano the Fire Nation capitol sat in had come back to life. The earthen-shield surrounding the dump did its job-at the cost of being melted. The dump itself was cleaned out.

Jee and Turo stared at a man they had shown respect to, but now were frankly in awe of. Good or Bad, you couldn't be Fire Nation and not respect that kind of weapon-power. Turo found her voice first.

"Commander Sokka, sir? What was that?"

Sokka jumped in the air.

"That was-NOTHING!"

Later on that day, a grinning Sokka was confronted by his likely future brother-in-law.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

The Avatar heard words that scared him to no end.

"Yeah-I kinda think maybe I am. Ain't it cool?"


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

On the fifth day (all assuming-and hoping-that Ty Lee's assessment was correct) Sokka was 'given' a laboratory to work in.

"Ooooh-Mama Kya's little boy is under quarantine!"

Sokka would go about his work, the guards in the basement room watching him nervously, a fact he took utter delight in. One time, he raised his arms and shouted.

"I've done it! IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!"

Then, he stopped, scratched his head and shrugged.

"False alarm. Heh."

These guards asked for early relief. Fortunately for that relief, he had many visitors.

"Hey, little sister. Come to see the bad boy?"

"Don't be bitter, Sokka. Everyone's just concerned."

His look was not the usual playful one.

"They captured some people this morning, right?"

"How did you know?"

"The Inquisitor General has a slow walk. This morning, he picked it by four paces. Tell me, Katara-what were these people planning to do?"

She bit her lip.

"They-they had plans, now abandoned, to raid the ammo dump for supplies to give to the rebel groups in the Ruin."

Sokka nodded.

"How'd the royal guards capture them, so soon after they dropped their plans?"

Katara hated this.

"They were in a blind panic-anxious to get out of the city-and report the Fire Nation's awesome new weapon."

Sokka shrugged broadly.

"Sooooo-instead of 'Great Job, Sokka' or 'Whod've Thunk, Sokka'-I get arrested."

"Sokka, you all but bragged to Aang that you were out of your mind."

"I-was JOKING, Katara. You know, Sokka try and make with the funny? I have been known to do that. But the Avatar, whose oldest living friend regularly cackles and eats rock candy he generates himself CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!"

Katara sighed.

"You also told Commander Jee that the explosion you produced was 'Nothing'. What would something be, Big Brother?"

Sokka looked at her and his look grew tender.

"Something-Else. It's payback time, little sister. I want to make sure..."

Katara ran off crying, and Sokka looked upset.

"...you didn't let me finish."

Another visitor came soon after, a woman also like a sister who treasured him at least in part because she would never hear him say anything so overtly sentimental to her.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself? Where's Ty Lee at?"

"I can't say right now. Operational stuff. Nothing on you."

Mai looked a bit annoyed.

"You scared her, Sokka. But you also made her think hard about what is possibly the most powerful non-bending arts in the world. In a way I'm glad."

He looked at her and started sketching with charcoal.

"She can't be that annoying."

"Hey! She's my friend! I just meant that she's been so ebullient-even for her-that I've been afraid that she'll forget she's still facing combat, and not with restrained heroic benders and a guy she awkwardly flirts with. I mean, do most enemies face each other and just agree to take the bear and go?"

Sokka added some things to his sketch.

"It was a weird kind of war at times. Annnd-you all think maybe it drove me crazy, right?"

Mai, trained in motion and observation, saw something odd about the way Sokka was drawing.

"I wouldn't blame you if it did. I left my family to avoid going insane-and also because Azula kept making creepy compliments about what a nice-looking family I have."

Sokka stopped drawing and looked her in the eyes.

"Mai, do you love your little brother?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"One I'm asking."

She shuddered a bit.

"What do you think?"

"I think-that you looked into those little eyes that for right now see you as a third parent and vowed to do anything you had to in order to make sure he never had to so much as frown."

He handed her the drawing. It was leagues away from the crude, often indecipherable drawings that had drawn many a chuckle.

"It's good-but it doesn't really look like little Tom Tom."

Sokka showed his sleeves hid blades of their own.

"I started from Tom Tom-but then I added in some of the features prominent in Zuko's family."

Mai shook as she placed her hand on the paper, tracing the little face she might one day see in the flesh. She looked up at this man she would soon openly call a friend.

"Thank You. And I think I understand."

With a lot more on her mind than merely an off-balance Sokka, Mai went to her chambers, stopping only to tell Katara that her brother's intentions were good, and not quite getting why Katara seemed to draw no comfort from it.

The new Fire Lord was the last to stop by, late in the day, defying his most senior servants by providing their 'enforced guest' with a bowl of meat stew that leaned more heavily on meat than most such blends.

"No hard feelings?"

"Not on you. Aang and Katara may want me down here because they think my mail cart has left the stone chute-"

Sokka ate the meal, bread bowl and all, in a time so short Zuko almost checked the count on his fingers.

"-but you're protecting me, aren't you?"

"Those people we arrested? They were trying to come up with a plan to kidnap you. Because you created something that everyone is going to want a piece of."

Sokka did not grin at this. Something else seemed to be on his mind.

"So when does the ground assault begin?"

Zuko tried to hide his surprise and failed.

"Thin floors?"

Sokka thought of Suki.

"It only makes sense. You have no heir, and so you have to move harshly against any threat. What's gathering there in the Ruin more than meets that criterion. It could destabilize the Earth Kingdom, and make it harder for those colonists your father forced to go there to return to the Fire Nation. Plus, they're a ready-made army for the next Chin...or...ya know."

Zuko closed his eyes.

"There will be no ground assault. Come upstairs with me, Sokka. Just don't try and vanish."

Sokka pointed.

"Hey, pal-if I wanted out of here, there's nothing that you, my sister, Toph, Aang and all your armies could do to stop me."

Zuko looked put off, till Sokka laughed.

"Kidding! Please! Any one of you could cream me in your sleep."

Zuko laughed as well-but he was no longer totally certain of that last part. In the main throne room, they ascended a set of stairs recessed from view and went up very high indeed. Sokka made a comment almost refreshing in its normalcy.

"Still beats the seats we had for that play."

Zuko played along.

"Almost anything would have to. Did I mention that I'm seeing it again?"

Sokka frowned.

"And I'm the one they locked up."

Zuko smiled.

"Well, I am seeing it again-in six months. I told the Ember Island Players that in a message. I also suggested that they might want to edit the odd thing here or there."

Sokka grinned at imagining the look on the Theater Group's faces to hear such a thing.

"It's good to be the Fire Lord!"

At the top of the stairs, the grandest artificial vantage point in all the world awaited the pair.

"Normally, there isn't any indulgence my father engaged in that I can't find fault with. I think about how the resources could have been spent. But this view-you're right, Sokka. It is good to be Fire Lord-at least sometimes. Now look in a southeasterly direction, away from the crescent moon."

Sokka shrugged.

"Just what am I looking for? I don't see a..."

The Battle Of The Ruin was over before it began, and the peace of the earliest part of the reign of Fire Lord Zuko secured. Even the crafter of the weapon used so decisively stood in awe of the spectacle.

"Did I do that?"

Zuko looked out, hoping to soon see a messenger hawk relaying the good news.

"Even before this, the area we now call The Ruin was a hide-out for some of the worst from all the nations. After the scouring-not to mention Aang's battle with my father-they took heart from the fact that such dense rock formations meant they had an infinite number of rugged hiding places."

Zuko put his hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"You put the lie to that, and likely an end to any plots against my rule for the foreseeable future. I'm going to use that time, Sokka, and get the rebuilding into high gear. Secure against reprisals for their past actions, my people will agree to a lot more aid being sent out as reparations. A secure frame of mind will keep the fear out and-why did you stop smiling?"

Sokka made for the stairs again.

"Because it's not enough. I can do so much more, Zuko."

He turned back and looked at the shocked ruler.

"We saved the world by supporting Aang. If you will all support me-"

Again, Sokka had developed a capacity for absolutely chilling words.

"-then the world won't need saving-ever again."

Zuko remained, knowing the guards would take Sokka back to his quarters. Sighting Appa, he fired off a flare and was quickly joined by the sister who had broken his other sister and by the reincarnation of his own great-grandfather.

"The hawks were too frightened to fly, so Suki asked us to come instead. My brother's invention blasted the Ruin so raw, it may be able to farmed again. I can't feel good about him making weapons, but he did stop the fighting dead in its tracks."

Aang seemed equally torn.

"It was amazing, Zuko. Hostages were released, treasure turned over-and all the Fire Nation holdouts pledged loyalty to you without even being asked to. Mongke and the Rough Rhinos were the only ones who refused. But without the other groups to back them up, the Kyoshi-Nai took them apart. Suki took a hit underneath her right eye, but she'll be fine."

"Guys, I have something to tell you..."

A minute later, he had told them of Sokka's words. Aang had some words of his own.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

The sixth day had all of the pieces in place. The group descended into the chambers, where one wall was covered with attempts at math symbols.

"Glad you're here, everyone. I've almost got it."

Sokka had not slept at all since leaving Zuko, yet he looked wide-eyed and alert. Rather than asking about what exactly he was working on now, Katara prepared her surprise for him.

"Sokka, there's some people here to see you."

Standing before the intent, intense young scientist were the Mechanist, Iroh, Piandao and finally Hakoda. Nearly every man Sokka had ever called mentor had come to see him, and he felt he could see through them. His face had a bored, sarcastic look.

"An intervention to stop the mad scientist?"

Iroh spoke first.

"I call Fire Lord Zuko my son, though he is really only my nephew. So I feel no quandary in calling all of you my nieces and nephews. In you, Sokka, I have a nephew who shares my love of good food and a good laugh. In the name of that affection and those commonalities, will you hear us out, Commander Sokka?"

Sokka responded as well as Zuko always had to Iroh's careful use of title as a reinforcing mechanism, and nodded. The Mechanist went next. He seemed almost excited, but looked as though he was fighting to restrain this.

"Sokka, my boy-may I look at your works and notes? I'm told you've broken some intriguing new ground."

Sokka pointed towards what was now a pile of scrolls.

"According to my friends, I've broken a lot more than that. But to have you of all people inspect my work is an honor."

The Mechanist was on those scrolls like Sokka at a side of grilled meat. As he studied and in some cases re-studied each one, Piandao stepped forward.

"Sokka-I'm told you dumped Fire Nation soldiers into the sea, as you fought to stop the Burning Armada. I'm also told you lost that magnificent sword we spent so much time and effort forging."

As Sokka looked down, Piandao directed his attention back up and locked eyes with him.

"A master could not be prouder of his pupil. You chose to spare those men, rather than just let them die when you rammed the other airships. You chose the life of a dear friend over a piece of metal. Some who think they are warriors measure greatness by how many graves they have filled. A true warrior should measure greatness by how many graves he has delayed the need for. My student is a great man. For he chooses life over death, the family dinner table over the family tomb."

Hakoda stepped forward to end this.

"My son foolishly believes that he gave us bad information about the Day Of Black Sun, and that this helped lead to the routing and capture of our forces. Needless to say, I do not support this conclusion. Sokka, before you came to us with that mad plan, all we had were surgical strikes and lucky blows against our enemy. We knew and could conceive of nothing that would do anything more than annoy them and make them laugh. But you kept your ears open and got us a reason to plan big for the first time in a very long time. Before Black Sun, the Water Tribes were on their way to joining Aang's people. But with one hastily-read scroll, you took that hopeless situation and turned it into a fighting chance. Now all we ask is the chance to help you walk away from a dangerous pursuit."

Sokka turned his back on them.

"I can feel myself changing back already. The thoughts are harder and harder to build upon. It's gonna be hard enough remembering that I used to be this smart without also stopping short of my ultimate goal."

Iroh spoke again.

"Nonsense. What you are experiencing right now is analogous to Aang's own Avatar state. You will one day step up to this level again. The chi-blocks merely bumped you up the ladder before you were ready. Master Mechanist, isn't part of the pursuit of knowledge the struggle to obtain it, and devising methods of pursuit that steady and support your work, so that it is not all a house of cards? Mechanist? Umm-Mechanist?"

Iroh looked at the Mechanist, his head still buried in the scrolls. The scientist's face matched precisely that of the late Lu Ten, when Iroh's son had seen a female warrior leave her bath without a towel.

"I-I suppose that's true. Maybe. Sokka, how exactly did you plan to increase the yield-"

When nearly the entire room joined together in glaring at him, the Mechanist stopped to catch his breath.

"The General is right, of course. Sokka, this work is amazing, and it's no accident that your brain produced it. But trust in me when I say-the world doesn't need any more weapons."

Piandao again played to his strengths.

"A good sword sometimes needs a great sheathe, Sokka. Whatever you're working on here, it's time to put the hammer down and let it cool."

Before his father could speak again, Sokka shook his head.

"You don't understand. I need to pay back - "

"What, Sokka? Who do you so badly need to pay back?"

Sokka took his sister's hands in his. He smiled the smile a boy of about two gave to the small bundle his mother showed him, almost a decade and a half ago.

"You. Katara, this is where I pay you back for taking care of me when you were falling apart yourself. For being the grownup while I played toy soldier. For-for not being able to stop our mother's killer."

As Katara stood open-mouthed at hearing this, Sokka turned to Aang.

"And You. You blame yourself, both in this life and as Roku, for letting this war go forward. But Human nature demanded it, Aang. You can't alter Humans drive to war on each other. But I can!"

He pointed at the scrolls the Mechanist had put aside in favor of the wall markings.

"Folks, I have been building towards an idea that I still have enough of this buzz to pull off. Picture if you will, an explosive so powerful that the explosion is the smallest part of its power. A weapon so crazy awesome, that the mere knowledge of its existence shuts down every future conqueror before he even so much as eyes the extra fish on his neighbor's dinner plate. A weapon that will make war IMPOSSIBLE!"

Zuko now stepped forward.

"This new learning we offer will keep the balance among the Four Nations, and prevent border incursions and resource disputes that will become pointless because of the guarantee of like retaliation. The fear will pass out of people's hearts forever, for invasion will simply pass out of the vernacular."

Sokka looked at Zuko and squinted while pointing accusingly.

"Did you peek at my notes?"

Zuko held up a bound book.

"Zakouta was the second son of Fire Lord Atoz. Unlike my father, he was happy for not having the throne. It left him free to pursue his two loves-pretty women and knowledge."

Aang shrugged.

"I know who Zakouta was. His Guild designed the Great Sundials at all the Air Temples."

Katara nodded.

"Gran-Gran brought a miniature Zakouta sundial with her from the Northern Tribes. She hid it whenever there was a hint of a Fire Nation raid in the air. She treasures that thing."

Zuko opened the book to the part he quoted from.

"Zakouta later said that he wished he had done nothing but make sundials. He was a fair firebender, until the day he realized how our people could tap into any source of ambient heat to generate fire. Until that time, except for the Avatars, no firebender could make fire themselves. Fire Nation soldiers often carried flame-pots into battle. Water, Earth, and Air are always around us in some fashion. But until Zakouta made that breakthrough, Fire was not. The Fire Nation had suffered border incursions and other problems based largely on this weakness. The people became fearful and mistrusting of even real peace overtures. Zakouta firmly believed that once our soldiers were on an equal footing with the soldiers of other nations, war would end. How could you have a war, he reasoned, if anybody could fight anybody else anywhere?"

Iroh took the book and read from its later passages.

"The pride in our culture that I so wished for has devolved into a narrow nationalism. The other nations are now less apt to invade us, but loose talk has emerged about expanding our own borders at their expense. I fear for the generations to come. Why, just the other day, my little great-grand-nephew Sozin threw away the sundial I crafted for his birthday, saying he would rather I spend my old age crafting another revolution in Firebending. His little friend Roku admonished him for showing such disrespect, but I fear such forbearance among our people to be even more decrepit and feeble than I myself have become."

Aang felt he had the point of that argument and pressed it forward.

"Weapons don't end wars, Sokka. You can never make it impossible for people to fight. No matter how terrible your new weapon was, someone would eventually use it, and someone else will learn how to top it. War will end when people decide to not war on each other, not when they're forced to by fear."

Katara had tears in her eyes as she held out her hand.

"Brother, I need you. We're headed on Appa to grab Pakku and Gran-Gran, so they can visit here. Okay?"

He stood up and embraced her.

"Can we grab Suki?"

"Actually-Gran-Gran all but demanded that we bring her."

Sokka sighed.

"By the time I get back to this-I may not even recognize this work any longer. Mechanist-can you take custody of it?"

"All but your most current project, Sokka. That-must be destroyed, and I urge all here to never speak of it again."

The young people left, except the Fire Lord, who nodded to the older men there before joining his peers. Hakoda breathed in.

"Mechanist-if you would."

Hakoda possessed more than a little scientific knowledge, and Piandao and Iroh had enough education to keep up and then some.

"Gentlemen, I spoke to Sokka in all seriousness. What he struck upon here may someday be built, but I do not wish to live to see that day."

Iroh flexed and clenched one hand.

"Master Mechanist-what could be so very horrible as to necessitate its wholesale suppression?"

The Mechanist raised an artificial finger.

"While in prison after the Black Sun rout, I met with many of my peers from all over the world. I think Fire Lord Ozai hoped to turn us to his purposes. In any event, we collaborated and theorized. Our first finding of any worth was that water and air contain a common element that drives life like an Oxen drives a plow. But that was just confirming what most knew by way of common sense. It was our second theory that has even more dramatic possibilities. We came to the conclusion that all matter is made up of a common origin particle that combines into the different things we know and see. Since these particles create things, they must by definition hold some of the power of creation itself in them."

The Mechanist honestly looked disturbed.

"We were all so elated by Fire Lord Zuko's general pardon of all but the worst prisoners, we didn't think to check what we published based on these sessions. Sokka read the scrolls concerning the 'Creation Atmosphere Particle', or Atmos, as we call it, and theorized that if this smallest of all particles could be split, the energy inside could be released to dramatic and deadly effect. When we stopped him, he was beginning to work on how to accomplish this-a feat I thought truly impossible. Gentlemen-this must never go forward. Upon this-all life depends."

Piandao spoke to his favorite pupil's father.

"Chief Hakoda-do you believe that the Water Tribe navies could serve equally well as the basis of a Merchant Marine Fleet?"

Hakoda's head swam with a mix of joy and shock at what his boy was capable of.

"Master Piandao-I bow to your wisdom. It will of course be open to any child of any nation. We need to get the economies of the four nations massively interdependent on each other for trade-based prosperity."

Iroh stood up.

"We need to find the young people of this world something to do, places to place their energies that do not involve disputes over lines on a map. We need to find them something to do-or they will find something to do themselves. And not all will be as persuadable or as morally upright as young Sokka."

A plan was hatched, and before all was done, Hakoda and the Mechanist presented with Pai Sho tiles. The Mechanist gathered all of Sokka's non-weaponry oriented scrolls. Then, when all were out of that room, Iroh destroyed everything in it with lightning.

_**REPRECUSSIONS**_

Katara looked at the drawing while Appa kept on their journey, with Aang gliding off to visit somewhere about half-way.

"You've definitely gotten better on this front. But why are Aang and I taking wedding vows in this? We're still at least a few years off from that."

Sokka was glad the improved art skills stayed with him. The other things were still there, but as though in a deep fog.

"Did you talk to Ty Lee? Apologize for me?"

"I did. She says she's actually going to adapt your lethal idea into something that could help people with spinal column wounds."

"Hey, I'm for plowshares. But as to why that drawing? Sis, I'm a lucky guy. I know a bunch of fantastic ladies. But childbirth could take away any of them, and I don't like that. So before we left, I snagged this volume on problems of childbirth-and if any of that super-brain stuff is still with me-I wanna figure out something that gives back life at a time when life is supposed to be starting, not ending."

"Yeah, but-you need your rest."

"Oh, worry-wart. I'll rest when I'm-"

Suki poked him in a certain area, and out he went.

"Score one for Ty Lee. But how sweet-wanting to help more women make it through childbirth. No wonder I love him."

Katara covered and secured his borrowed book while Sokka snored.

"No wonder at all."

Back at the capitol, a departure was in the offing.

"When-will you be back from Omashu?"

Mai finished putting her things together for the trip.

"As soon as I've given my mother a few months of relief on taking care of Tom Tom. You see, Zuko-"

She handed him the picture Sokka drew.

"I wanna see how I'll do and maybe pretty soon start in with you on making one of these."

They embraced, and he smiled, but like Sokka, sometimes he did not know when to shut up.

"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot. Of course, if any of them are girls, you do realize they could end up looking exactly like my sister?"

Mai saw herself fifteen years on, surrounded by a room full of whiny teenagers, all with Azula's face.

"Ever hear of a mood killer, Zuko?"

The Avatar approached again the temple where he had spent so much of his youth. Entering suites of rooms once forbidden to all but supreme masters, he used his connection to past Airbending Avatars to find ways of unlocking places Fire Nation looters had no prayer of even noticing.

"No-please. No. Oh, Sokka-you were right."

The picture showed a large lake, rivaling Laogai by Ba Sing Se, with drawings of fish teeming inside it. The picture next to it showed an Airbender above the lake, creating a red whirlwind. The third and final picture showed the lake full of dead and decayed fish, and the water a dingy grey.

"NO! I won't let you!"

The secret chamber was rubbed smooth by sand and wind, burned by fire and the chamber at last flooded.

In eternity's gaze, the spirit of Monk Gyatso smiled.

The events at the end of this tale actually stretch back to a few nights' previous to all this. As the explosion that destroyed the ammo dump lit up the city, a young woman took immediate notice. From her small window, she stared at it in absolute joy and wonder, finding it the most beautiful thing she could recall seeing in all her life.

"Pre-tty. Like a giant mushroom. So-many colors. Ooooh."

Her caretakers took immediate note of this, and so it was that, shortly after parting ways with Mai, during his weekly visit, Fire Lord Zuko was given the news that the former Princess Azula had uttered her first coherent words in many months.

The aide in question then congratulated him on his victory in the Ruin, but Zuko did not hear him speak after that.


End file.
